Kinetic Conversations Keith Humble Bert Turetzky Keith Humble After several years teaching at the intuitive music research as part of the University of Melbourne, where he re- ensemble KIVA, in conjunction with Composer, pianist, conductor and educator, invigorated the Grainger Museum as Professors Jean-Charles Francois and John Keith Humble was born in Geelong, Victoria, a site for electronic music and other Silber. It was there that he began a long Australia in 1927. contemporary activities, he was appointed performance association with Bert Turetzky. From an early age he won many awards Foundation Professor of Music at La In establishing the Centre de Musique in Australia. A Royal Schools Trobe University in 1974. in Paris 1959. His interest in electronic Scholarship, together with Here he was able to music grew. One of his most important funds collected by his local make contemporary works from the 1960s was Music for Northcote community, music the central Monuments for prepared tapes featuring a enabled him to travel to premise of study and collage of sounds and a solo bassoon part Britain in late 1949 to study activity, with technology incorporating elements of randomness. An at the Royal Academy of and improvisation as interest in improvisation went back further Music, London. A more focal points in the first still, as his historian John Whiteoak has substantive period of year of the course, and written: “Keith held a lifelong conviction education followed in electronic music placed that a continuum of practice exists between Paris from the early 1950s, on an equal footing with improvisation and composition, and this studying both piano with more traditional forms of was undoubtedly influenced by the fact Cortot and composition composition, theory and that he was a jazz musician in the 1940s.” and conducting with the historical repertoire. In 1982 Humble was awarded the distinguished composer and Humble helped Order of Australia (AM) for his services conductor René Leibowitz, to found the Australian to music, and in 1989 he retired from La whose assistant he became Contemporary Music Trobe University. He continued to compose on many recording and teaching projects. Ensemble (ACME) in 1975, with the and his last orchestral work, A Symphony Humble returned to Australia in 1956, purpose of promoting contemporary music of Sorrows (1993) demonstrates his but became so discouraged by the lack and encouraging and performing the work increasingly expressive musical language. of interest in contemporary music that he of young Australian composers. Keith Humble died on 23 May 1995. remained in Australia for only one year An outstanding pianist and conductor, His activities for ISCM, the ACME, his before returning to Paris. He founded and he made regular tours of Europe and the conducting of ABC and Conservatorium directed the Centre de Musique from 1960, USA, and was frequently a guest lecturer groups and contemporary ensembles, his a collective of performers and composers at American universities. He maintained membership of the Music Committees of which created a lively and alternative a special relationship with the University the Australia Council for the Arts and his performance environment in Paris, at the of California, San Diego, where he became own personal championing of new music, American Center for Students and Artists. a regular visitor as Regents’ Professor. as a composer, educator and brilliant His work at the CDM developed and The periods of time he spent at UCSD pianist, have together had a marked effect flourished until he returned to Australia in between 1982 and 1986 saw him engaged on Australia’s musical climate. 1966. in computer-assisted experimental and Bertram Turetzky his instrument today”. Turetzky continues to play classic jazz, and appears regularly at Since the end of World War II, the double jazz festivals. bass (contrabass) has emerged from its In addition, he is the author of The traditional orchestral role to assume the Contemporary Contrabass (1974, 1989), position of an im-portant solo instrument. a monograph that looks at a number of This marked rise in interest in the new and interesting techniques of playing contrabass can be traced to its importance the double bass including featuring it as in jazz and the development of new a solo performance vehicle with no other performance techniques. Bertram Turetzky instrumental accompaniment. has been a key figure in the renaissance of the contrabass and since 1955 more than 300 new works have been written for, performed by and recorded by him, making him the most frequently recorded contrabass soloist in America. In fact, Bertram Turetzky is one of the few performers, in all of music history to have single-handedly created a large and impressive repertory of music for his instrument. Turetzky was born on 14 February 1933 in Norwich, Connecticut, USA, and grew up there. He received a masters degree in music history from the University On the basis of this now classic of Hartford. Turetzky’s concert career book, Turetzky was named co-editor includes a multitude of role performances of the prestigious series The New at concerts and festivals in music centres of Instrumentation, published by the the world: New York, London, Paris, Warsaw, University of California Press. Bertram Los Angeles, Stockholm, and Berlin. Bernard Turetzky is professor of music at the Jacobson of the Chicago Daily News University of California, San Diego, where described Turestzky as “a virtuoso of caliber he spends a major part of each year in unsurpassed by any other practitioner of residence. “Performance lay at the deepest level of Keith Humble’s musicality and was integrated with all other facets of his creativity. His charged piano playing pointed to compositional processes; his fluid conducting injected a contemporary score with the sense of being an event.” John McCaughey

“Despite his international profile he saw himself as a community musician and believed passionately in the musical empowerment of local communities and youth.” Dr John Whiteoak, 2006

“Keith’s solidarity remained always with the small. For him the world was a global cultural village, with no privileged space, a place to be ploughed creatively on an everyday basis by the largest number of or Keith, life was music, as music participants possible, doing their own was life. In a world where everything thing. This I will qualify with a motto: The Fis possible, each day was a new boldness of humbleness.” adventure - a special treat - an exciting Jean-Charles Francois, Perspectives of New discovery. Each day was awaited with Music, 1995 childlike anticipation and wonder. HIs joy of living was contagious and touched so many “Humble’s way of entering our sound of us whose paths he crossed.” universe was extraordinary. Instead of Jill Humble, July 1995 imposing personality, he was able to gently take the sound information he heard and to “That I owe everything to my predecessors transform it through subtle reinforcement of should be evident - let me name: some of its aspects.” Leibowitz, the second Viennese school, Jean-Charles François Bartok, Liszt and Schubert.” Keith Humble, March 1995 uretzky single-handedly, with his so. He simply understood the art of sound. indefatigable energies and expertise, Live and on recordings his depth of tone Thas converted the contrabasso from and colour is extraordinary. Every note an ‘orchestral’ instrument into a major solo is filled with purpose and his phrasing instrument.” with compositional flow. A truly masterful Mario Davidovsky musician for all ages.” Tony Gould “Turetzky is a stunning executant, like a great basso cantante, his double bass speaks purely and with the easy resonance at the softest dynamic levels. Even his harmonics never sound gritty. And the resourcefulness with which he strives for unlikely colors and textures seems virtually unlimited.” New York Times

“Bertram Turetzky – the articulate, acrobatic and fanatically musical superman from California.” Berlin Morgenpost

“Turetzky showed that the double bass can be the most com­pelling of instruments in the right hands.” Colin Gardner, Los Angeles Times

“Over the years I have had the great pleasure of both listening to and performing with Bert Turetzky. The first thing that strikes one on hearing him ‘live’ is the remarkably big, rich and intensely musical sound he gets from his instrument. I thought, mistakenly, that he must have been amplified! Not inally, through the energy, time and deep care of Jill Humble, we can hear a collection of some of the most extraordinary musical improvisations Fever recorded. The reputations of Keith Humble and Bert Turetzky go way beyond their status as virtuosos. What we hear in this collection — taken from various recorded performances over the years — are two artists with uncommon empathy for one another, who invariably injected high energy and spirit into their music-making. Their spontaneity and sense of form and space makes this music timeless.

It is no wonder that among their many other activities in music over many years both gained international reputations as pioneers of new music.

1 We know Webern 3’58” 2 Extremes 4’24” 3 Where to? 2’37” 4 Wait 3’51” 5 Slide 4’48” 6 Quiet 3’02” 7 Space 3’33” 8 The meeting 6’00” 9 One note slap 4’21” 10 Dark 4’49” 11 A little groove 2’22” 12 Histoire dance 1’16” 13 The sound of bass 5’08”

Recorded in the Mandeville Auditorium, University of California, San Diego, on 19 March 1986 Recording engineer: Josef Kuchera Digital mastering: Martin Wright, Move Records Cover illustration: Ben Thomas Thanks to Tony Gould, Jill Humble and John McCaughey for their invaluable help in making this release a reality P 2013 Move Records www.move.com.au